


A Simple Maidservant

by KnightlyWordsmith



Category: Saint Seiya, 聖闘士星矢: 黄金魂 | Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold
Genre: Gen, Lyfia really needs more love guys, Not really shippy but you could read it that way if you really wanted to, She's fabulous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 00:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11324505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightlyWordsmith/pseuds/KnightlyWordsmith
Summary: Lyfia faces an impossible task: Expose Andreas’s true nature and save all of Asgard. But she can’t do it alone.





	A Simple Maidservant

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2016 Ladies of Saint Seiya FFicFest, and needed to include the quote "It’s like in the great stories, [name]. The ones that really mattered.“ - Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.

Asgard was unseasonably warm. No, not even unseasonably. Even in the deepest days of summer, the snowy wastes of Asgard never melted to such an extent. The roads were clear of their ever present snowdrifts, ice didn’t frost a single lake and trees sprouted bright green leaves. A bountiful harvest was promised and the people rejoiced.

Lyfia wished she too could rejoice, but she knew the dark truth behind this prosperity. She could feel the growing sickness in the land even as the green of the trees deepened. There was a taint to it all, one she couldn’t explain, only feel in her very core.

And Lady Hilda. She was growing weaker with each day that the land grew greener. Even worse the very man who was supposed to cure Odin’s representative on Earth, was the one drawing her closer to death’s door.

Andreas Riise. Somehow Lyfia had found herself in the position of being charged with saving the land of Asgard from his treachery. Never in her wildest dreams, or most adventurous fantasies had she ever thought of the fate of her home resting on her shoulders in such a way. But one simple maidservant couldn’t expose the land’s new hero all on her own. Not without allies. Thankfully she knew where to find some.

Her steps echoed faintly as Lyfia made her way down the stairs from Lady Hilda’s chambers. The voluminous halls of the castle were drafty, but for once not cold. A few servants carrying laundry and a guardsman on patrol inclined their heads to her as she passed by, but aside from that Lyfia met no one. No doubt everyone was out enjoying the beautiful day.

She found who she was looking for out in the courtyard. He was surveying the training of a handful of new guards. The glistening white of his God Robe was striking against the deep blue of his hair. He barked a series of commands to those training, then watched with a scrutinizing eye as they carried out the desired motions.

One of the men, who was little more than boy in truth, fumbled through his motions, upsetting his partner in the process. Frodi called a halt and strode over to the one who’d messed up. He took the man’s sword from him, and swung it smoothly through the proper techniques before returning it to the man’s hand. The two passed a few words between them, Frodi being firm, but not harsh, then he clapped the soldier on the shoulder and stepped away, calling for all assembled to run through the drill again.

As the men all settled into their training once more, Lyfia coughed lightly into her hand. The sound was enough for Frodi’s ears to catch and he turned toward her, his face lighting up with a smile when he saw  her. “Lyfia,” his smile and the warmth in his voice, sent her face reddening in a way that had nothing to do with the heat of the day. Turning to his men he called, “Keep on what you are doing. Elias, remember what I told you.” With that said, he stepped away from his trainees and over to where Lyfia stood in the shade cast by the castle’s high stone walls.

“And what do I owe this honor, Lady Lyfia?” Frodi ducked his head in a half bow. “It’s not often that you come to see me anymore.” His eyes glimmered like they used to when they would play as children.

“Or you me,”  Lyfia countered, heartened to see a hint of the boy she’d once been friends with in the smile he bestowed on her. “Our duties keep us both busy and apart.”

“A pity.” Frodi sounded like he meant it. “If we’re lucky though, with the good fortune Andreas has brought to the land, perhaps our duties will lessen.”

The pleasantness Lyfia had been feeling at seeing her old friend once again was instantly clouded by the reminder of why she was here. “As much as duty has kept us apart so much, I fear it is duty itself that brings me to see you.” There must have been something in her voice because Frodi’s smile disappeared completely, replaced by a faint frown.

“Well, what is it that duty wants then?” Frodi’s voice was noticeably flatter now. Lyfia could tell she had disappointed him, but to be quite frank at the moment she couldn’t give a rat’s ass about disappointing anyone except Lady Hilda. Not when so much rested on her.

“Not here,” Lyfia eyed the trainees warily. So many people had put their faith in Andreas, even Frodi clearly had been eating up his lies. It might not be safe to voice her suspicions to too many yet. Frodi she could trust though. She knew she could. “Walk with me?” She tried for an easy smile, like the one she’d greeted him with.

Her efforts met with some success as the frown left Frodi’s face, but still the smile did not return. “If you would prefer.” Turning back to his men he called, “I will be a few moments, continue on with this drill until I return.” The men nodded, then Frodi looked back at Lyfia. A hint of a boyish smile rose up in the corner of his mouth as he offered her his arm, which only grew when she accepted it.

The two set off down the walkway that skirted the courtyard, clinging to the relief offered by the shade of the walls. They walked in silence for a few moments, but once they were out of ear shot of the trainees Frodi spoke once again. “So, will you tell me now you reason for coming to see me?”

Lyfia paused, biting her lip as she tried to think how best to broach the topic. Frodi’s words earlier proved he supported Andreas, so she must be careful in bringing him around to reason. “It is Lady Hilda,” she began slowly, choosing her words with care. “I am worried about her failing health. More so, I’m worried about the reason behind her failing health.”

“She is still feeling no better?” The concern in Frodi’s voice was genuine. A crease appeared in his brow and he said, “There is some kind of irony in the fact that Andreas is able to bring such healing to Asgard, but has not been able to cure our leader.”

“That’s just it,” Lyfia said forcefully, hoping this was the opening she needed. “Andreas was an amazing physician, and yet he can’t do anything to save her.” Lyfia shook her head, sending her pale blue hair swirling around her shoulders. “No, that’s not it. He _won’t_ do anything.”

Frodi stopped short, pulling Lyfia to a halt along with him. “What do you mean?” His blue eyes sent a chill down Lyfia’s spine for the coldness that suddenly filled them. “What are you trying to say Lyfia?”

Part of her wanted to pull away from Frodi and retreat from the harshness in his voice, but Lyfia stood firm. If she was truly going to stand up against the man Lady Hilda said was trying to kill Asgard, she certainly must have the courage to stand up to one of her oldest friends. “He never comes by to see her anymore. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him in days, and after his last visit she got worse, much worse.”

Lady Hilda was so weak now Lyfia feared for how long she had left if something wasn’t done soon. Lyfia’s instructions that she must find a way to expose Andreas had been brief. Much briefer than was apt for such an important task, but Lady Hilda had barely the strength to speak for a few moments before she needed to rest once more.

“Lyfia, Andreas is bringing prosperity to Asgard, he would not try to kill Lady Hilda,” Frodi took on that same firm tone he’d been using earlier with Elias, but there was an added edge to it.

“Not only Lady Hilda. He’s trying to destroy Asgard along with her,” Lyfia pressed, fearing she was already fighting a losing battle. “Can’t you feel the murkiness, the death and decay under all this green?”

He laughed. Frodi threw back his head and actually laughed at her. Lyfia did finally pull away, not in fear, but in anger. She boiled with it, but when Frodi lowered his head to look at her once again, mirth was still bubbling off his face. “Don’t be ridiculous Lyfia. All this green as you say is new life that’s being brought to our barren home! Perhaps the heat is getting to you.”

“The heat has not gotten to me,” Lyfia replied hotly, her eyes narrowing in her anger. “Why are you so blind? Why can’t you see how wrong this is? Asgard is _supposed_ to be cold and barren, not fresh and green. It’s like in the great stories, Frodi. The one’s that really mattered. Things look bright and good, but they don’t _feel_ right, because evil doesn’t come right out and bite you on the nose!”

Frodi waved a placating hand. “Lyfia, all this talk of feelings means nothing without any kind of actual proof, when what lies before our eyes is a bright and prosperous land. Even your worries over Andreas treating Lady Hilda have no grounding. Neither you nor I are physicians, so we can’t hope to understand his treatments for her, and must trust that he is doing all he can.”

Lyfia’s heart sunk. For whatever reason, Frodi was too blind to see and he was completely unwilling to try to look past Andreas’s front. How was she going to do this all on her own?

A foot soldier ran up to them just then, his breathing laboured. Clearly he’d come from some distance, and at a fast pace. He stopped in front of Frodi, straightening formally despite his obvious fatigue. “Lord Frodi, I have news about the man we’ve had reports on wandering Asgard.” The soldier eyed Lyfia, but at Frodi’s nod he continued. “We have taken him into custody, and it does seem our fears are true. He is a Saint of Athena.”

 _A Saint of Athena_? Lyfia of course had heard the stories of the Asgardian God Warriors clash with the Saints. A fight that had ended in the deaths of the God Warriors, but the salvation of Asgard and the recuse of Lady Hilda from a terrible possession.

“Very well, tell the men you have all done well. It’s not safe to leave such a man to wander freely.” The soldier saluted then turned on his heel and left. Frodi blew out a low sigh. “I should be returning to my men. I have left them longer already than I should have.” He sounded sad, but Lyfia no longer wasted the effort in feeling bad for him, not after he’d so firmly rebuffed her attempts to gain his help. He was a lost cause, his faith in the world Andreas promised them too strong.

She bid him a short farewell, feeling a slight pang despite her frustrations with him. Frodi had been right when he’d said they hardly saw each other anymore, and part of her hated to leave things on such a sour note, but she had to turn her mind to other things. To others who may aid her in her impossible task.

Athena’s Saints had saved Asgard once, but that did not mean they were allies. They had done so to save their own goddess. This man the Asgardian soldiers had captured, he might even be in league with Andreas for all she knew. He could be vile, dangerous or evil, but her options were slim.

Lyfia had expected to spend the rest of her days as a simple maidservant. Helping her lady dress, brushing her hair and ensuring that her meals arrived on time. She’d never expected to have the fate of her home resting on her slim shoulders. Her strengths were few, and her fears many, but could not let this stop her from doing all she could to save Lady Hilda and her home.

Balling her hands into fists and gathering up courage she wasn’t sure she possessed Lyfia turned in the direction that would lead her to the dungeons.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry about all the Frodi! I didn’t really want to bring a dude in (I mean it’s Ladies Fest), but how could I not take a quote that’s supposed to go “It’s like the great stories Mr. Frodo, the one’s that really mattered” and not afflict more memes on Frodi? I lack the willpower to resist such a temptation XD


End file.
